


Christmas at the Lake

by nordorr



Category: Midnight Poppy Land (Webcomic)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28521969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nordorr/pseuds/nordorr
Summary: A Christmas-centric short that has everyone going to Quincey's vacation home to escape the City leading into Christmas.
Relationships: Tora/Poppy Wilkes
Comments: 33
Kudos: 90





	1. Heat Wave

**Author's Note:**

> I thought it would be fun to have a summertime Christmas story since Narin seems to be set in the Southern hemisphere.  
> I meant to get this finished by Christmas and then by New Year's, but that didn't happen, so I'll just be posting short chapters as frequently as I can.
> 
> All characters are the intellectual property of Lilydusk and her webtoon Midnight Poppy Land. Any similarities between this work and the comic are purely coincidental.

The fan in the corner provided no relief; it’s oscillations only caused the conference room’s occupants to have the hot air blown into their faces as it made its passes. Annoyed by the warm breezes fluttering papers about, Poppy got up and unplugged the fan. She sat back down at the large table, opposite Quincey, where they were working on the last updates to his first stand alone novel to be published by Giant Goldfish. As temperatures outside climbed, tempers and concentration inside shortened. Poppy had caught herself snapping at the author as his attention waned, the boiling room making Quincey flustered and tired. 

Outside the conference room, in the main office, Tora sat at Poppy’s desk while Jacob and Erdene worked at their respective stations. Their manager, Gil, was uncomfortable around Tora and tried to find reasons to be out of the office while Quincey and his bodyguard were in the building. Tora watched Poppy through the glass wall, her back to him as she leaned forward to point something out to Quincey. Her hair was pulled up into some kind of messy bun, leaving her neck exposed. Tora watched sweat bead near her hairline and follow the outline of her spine into the scooped neckline of her tank top. He let his mind wander, imagining his fingers following the perspiration down the curve of her back. He was pulled from his fantasy by Quincey’s sudden movement. 

His sweat dripped from him, falling off his chin onto the notes in front of him, blurring the pen lines. Quincey had had enough, he pushed himself away from the table and peeled himself off of his seat. “I can’t work like this, it’s inhumane! Look at my papers, they are positively dripping with perspiration!” He grabbed the offending papers and shook them for emphasis. “When I say my novels are full of my blood, sweat and tears, it’s supposed to be figurative.” He complained.

Tora had come in to stop the dramatics but realized it was warranted in this instance. When he entered the small space, he was hit by the stagnant warm air. Although Quincey was spoiled, he wasn’t wrong, the conference room was far too stifling. He urged the two of them out, helping to collect papers on the way.

Poppy sat at her desk fanning herself, accepting the cool water that Tora had brought her from the small water tower in the corner before he turned to offer a cup to Quincey. “Ya both need to drink up. I didn’t realize it was hotter in there than here in the main office."

The main office itself currently felt like an oven. The building's ancient air conditioning units were unable to keep up with the suffocating heat wave that was presently causing discomfort throughout Narin City.

"Pops, this is untenable. No one should work in these conditions. We need to wait out the weather and then finish this.” Quincey complained.

“I’d love to, but we don't have the luxury of that kind of time, Quincey. This heat is projected to last well into next week past Christmas and we have to have all of these edits and revisions submitted by New Year’s Eve. We’ve already gone past our deadline once, we can’t afford to miss it a second time.” Poppy explained.

Quincey watched as Tora stared at Poppy, looking away as she caught his eye. They were driving him crazy, and by the pointed looks Erdene had shot him the past week, he wasn’t alone. _These two, you could lead a horse to water,_ he thought. That had been part of the problem though, after the birthday party his father, Vincent, had pulled Tora off of Quincey’s bodyguard duty. When he was allowed to return to Quincey, the Lam project was finished and they didn’t need to make frequent trips to the office. When he’d questioned Tora why he didn’t just meet up with Poppy on his own, he mentioned something about wanting to respect her wish for independence and not being just another notch on a bedpost. He’d gathered enough bits of information between Tora, Gyu, Erdene and Poppy herself to piece together that they both had real feelings for each other and were holding themselves back to keep from hurting the other. 

Since he had returned a few weeks ago to finish his first standalone novel with Giant Goldfish, Quincey had been doing his best to be a master wingman. He’d caught furtive glances between them but to the best of his knowledge not much else was happening. Quincey thought on it for a minute and then leaned forward to address her. "How are all of you at working remotely? I've been planning to spend some time at my lake house for Christmas and the New Year, would you want to go now?"

Poppy blotted the perspiration across her face. “That sounds amazing, Quincey, but I’m not sure if I can go, I’ve already bought train tickets to go see my Granny on Christmas.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem, Pops. It’s about 30 minutes outside of the cutest country town, called Moonbright. There’s a train station there, we can see about transferring your tickets to leave from there instead of Narin City.” Quincey told her.

Both Poppy and Tora flinched at the mention of Moonbright for different reasons, but only she spoke. “Oh that’s wonderful Quincey! My Granny is in Moonbright. I’ll call right now to see if I can exchange my ticket for an earlier date.” 

Although Poppy and Quincey currently did not need Erdene and Jacob's assistance, he invited them along to get them out of the heat of the city too. It was decided that they'd all leave as soon as possible. Tora and Quincey would leave that night after attending a Christmas dinner for the clan. Jacob and his girlfriend Meg along with Erdene would catch the train together in the morning. The earliest Poppy could exchange her ticket was for the red-eye morning train the day after her coworkers were set to arrive.

He’d only been gone for a few minutes when Poppy received an email from Quincey full of his ideas for a Christmas extravaganza while they were together. He listed instructions of what everyone should bring and what they should be prepared for. He wanted to have a traditional Christmas with lots of activities leading up to it since they would all be there. Ever the professional, he had tried to balance the fun around the strict work schedule he and Poppy would have to keep to meet their deadline.

*****

Poppy packed her bags. She went through her checklist trying to remember everything she'd need for work, for Quincey's house and for Christmas at her Granny's. As she scanned the room for any objects she'd forgotten, her eyes landed on the open balcony door. She'd fallen asleep with it open a few nights before, to be woken up by Gyu calling to check on her. The heat wave had made her apartment feel hot and sticky with the humidity. She was worried about how bad the mold would be with her leaving everything all sealed up for a week. That wasn’t the only thing on her mind; she and Tora had been sneaking around for months. 

Seeing each other was more infrequent than either one liked. The texts and calls that passed between them sustained Poppy until the next time they were able to meet. Physical contact had been limited to hand holding and the occasional kiss with both of them holding back in an effort to protect themselves and the other. But since Quincey had been back in the office, things had escalated. Seeing Tora so frequently was wearing on her resolve, and when he’d catch her when she was alone in a stairwell or supply closet and kiss her breathless, it was all she could do to compose herself and return to her desk as though nothing had happened. The idea of spending so much time together at Quincey’s had her blushing into the clothes she was folding. 


	2. Breakfast at Quincey's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy arrives at the lake house

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kind and encouraging comments ♥️, this is my first multi chapter work and I am nervous, I've got big chunks written out, it's just the connecting them together that's taking me forever. Hopefully I can get the next one up quickly for all of you.

Tora had come to pick Poppy up from the Moonbright station. The thought of spending time alone with her had him ready and at the train station early. He stood off to the side of the platform smoking thinking about the last time he was there. He had been intrigued by her then, wanting to know how someone so sweet looking could get wrapped up in Goliath and his mess. Now he knew she was a tiny snark monster disguised as an angel and he couldn’t wait to see her.

He approached the train as the brakes hissed, impatient for Poppy to disembark. Standing above the crowd he was able to see her as she descended the steps, battling her luggage against the flow of other travelers. He startled her by taking the largest bag out of her hands as she tried to keep her balance.

“Oh, Tora. It’s you” her shock turned into a smile. “I thought someone was trying to mug me.”

“Why would I wanna mug a shorty like you? Too easy. People would think I'm goin’ soft.” He smirked. He knew she’d get him back for the shorty comment. He took her other case leaving her with a large messenger bag and her purse. “Did ya leave anything at home?” He playfully chided her.

"I had to pack my office up and everything Quincey wanted for his “Christmas extravaganza” she finger quoted, “on top of what I needed for Christmas with Granny.” She began to go into detail all that would be required of her as she followed Tora through the parking lot to his car with him giving an affirmative grunt here and there to show he was paying attention.

Tora drove through the town and then continued out onto the small highway that would take them to the lakeshore. At some point she had reached over and placed her hand in his, lacing their fingers together in an unspoken agreement. As they approached the turn off for Quincey’s he warned her about what was waiting for her in the house.

“He’s got fuckin’ mistletoe everywhere. He keeps hangin’ it above doorways and movin’ it around to try and catch someone off-guard.”

“Oh, thank you for warning me,” she deadpanned, “I would hate to have an excuse to kiss you.”

Tora pulled off to the side of the long driveway, " 'S really that bad, huh? Never heard anyone else complain." He moved their joined hands closer to him, leaning over to her, he smirked, showing off his dimples, "wanna give me a chance to redeem myself?"

Poppy looked down the drive to see how visible they were from the house. Even though she was only able to see the top of the roof, she decided not to risk anything more than a quick peck before returning to sit forward in her seat.

Tora was still leaning over invading her space. "That's all ya needed to know if it was good or not?" He said in mock offense.

She turned to meet him, his face inches away from hers, a smile playing across his lips. Poppy glanced back to the house, they were far enough away where no one could see them, right? She decided to give in and moved to close the distance between them, with their faces a hairsbreadth apart, her stomach let out a very loud and long growl.

"Damn Bobby, didn't ya eat before ya left this morning?"

"No, I've been trying to eat a little less to save some money. Christmas shopping ate up all of my budget."

"Ya could've called me, I would've gotten you some food or given ya a ride to save your bus money." Tora stated, slightly perturbed.

"It's not your job to take care of me, you're Quincey's bodyguard not mine. I need to learn how to figure all this stuff out on my own." She reasoned.

He grumbled some unintelligible sound as his face returned to it's usual impassive expression. Tora sat back in his seat and put the car in drive.

He parked next to a three car garage and led her through a side door. "Go straight when ya get inside and it'll take ya to the kitchen, get yourself some breakfast. I'll take your stuff to your room and see ya in a minute."

Poppy walked through a large archway into a huge kitchen with a low bar counter opening it to the living space. She saw her friends congregating around the kitchen island snacking on what looked to be the end of their breakfasts.

"Poppy!" Quincey greeted her. "Welcome to my respite from the stress of the city." He came up and kissed her cheek, surprising her.

"Hey girl, about time you got here," Erdene followed Quincey's actions and kissed her other cheek, wrapping her in a hug.

Megan and Jacob weren't far behind, also happily welcoming her with quick pecks on the cheek.

Poppy moved to walk into the kitchen after the unusually warm welcome from her friends and colleagues only to be halted by Quincey putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Uh, where's Tora, didn't he come inside with you?" Quincey asked looking past her into the rest of the house.

"He said he would take my bags to my room and meet up with me later, why?" Poppy asked.

Erdene pointed to the space above her, making Poppy look up and see the mistletoe fastened to the wall above the archway into the kitchen. _Sneaky Quincey, very sneaky_ , she thought.

Poppy's stomach couldn't wait for Tora to show up for Quincey's schemes and made itself known, rumbling loudly enough for her host to hear, causing her to redden in embarrassment.

Quincey released her shoulder and guided her to the food. "Where are my manners, I'm sure you must be starving after your morning, let's get you a plate."

There was a spread of fresh fruit, scones and granola on the island and some yogurts in the fridge if she wanted. Quincey prattled on about how breakfast would pretty much be the same most days unless someone wanted to cook, but that he would rather spend their free time playing instead of doing dishes.

After Poppy made her plate, he herded her over to a breakfast nook in one corner of the kitchen, with bay windows giving a view to the wooded area beside the house. The rest of the great room was angled to showcase floor to ceiling windows that framed the view of the lake. Between the back of the home and the lake was a large outdoor patio area that extended out to wrap around a pool and spa. There was a covered seating area and what looked like an outdoor kitchen.

"After breakfast you and I are going to jump right in and get through the next few chapters," Quincey gestured to the opposite end of the table where he had set up his notes and laptop, "while Tora takes everyone else to go get our tree and decorations. I went through my vision with Erdene last night so she knows exactly what I'm looking for. When they get back we can do lunch and set it all up."

As if on cue, Tora sat down beside her and took a strawberry from her plate, smirking at her as he took a bite.

“Hey, get your own,” she playfully nudged him with her shoulder while sliding her breakfast over.

"Speak of the devil," Quincey nodded at Tora, "how do you always manage to sneak around and just pop up like this? I was just telling Pops here about how you were going to take our friends shopping."

Tora made a face that looked like he’d rather do anything else.

“I can’t wait to see what you get. Are you getting any outside decorations, Quincey? She asked, hopeful. “I put some lights around my balcony, but if I had an outdoor space like this, you can guarantee I’d light it up to have it be visible from space.” Poppy giggled.

“Hmm, some lights around the gate might look nice. Tora, while you’re out see if they have any large white outdoor lights, those always translate to classical Christmas elegance. Anyway you better leave soon so that you can be all done and back by lunch.”

*****  
Tora drove Erdene, Jacob and his girlfriend, Megan, out to the little Christmas shop Quincey had found. The women sat in the back making pleasant conversation, Tora both tried to ignore them and wanted desperately to hear if they had anything to say about Poppy. When he realized they were only going to talk about ornaments, he began to tune them out, getting lost in his own thoughts.

Seeing her this morning had thrown him. He hadn’t anticipated how excited he’d be to see her at the station. They had never talked about what they were or what they were becoming after she had asked him for his patience. Still, her barb about needing to be independent stung him. He knew his reasons for keeping his distance were to keep her safe, but he’d thought by now after all this time, she’d be willing to bend a little. Didn’t she realize that he was all in?

He was pulled back into the conversation in the car with a tap on his shoulder."Hey big guy, what about you? Are you game?” Erdene asked.

“Huh?” Tora had no idea what they had been talking about.

He saw Erdene in his rearview mirror with a wide mischievous grin across her face. "We're going rogue."


	3. Going Rogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy learns a little about Quincey's house and Erdene puts uteruses before duderuses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, sorry for the long break between chapters! Between supervising virtual school for my kids and a work order I got a little behind in life. I'll try to get the next chapter uploaded in a day or two.
> 
> I'm terrible at switching around from point of view so I've added breaks to denote that it's coming from a different character, let me know if they are helpful or if you find them annoying.

Quincey showed Poppy around the house a little as they went to her room to get her messenger bag that contained her laptop and notes. He explained that each bedroom had a private connected bath. The rooms that didn’t face the water still had views of the hillside and woods surrounding the house. Leaving the kitchen, Poppy turned and went the way Tora had disappeared down when they had first arrived. He pointed out his office and a sizable home gym that she was welcome to use as well as the door to the garage that she had come through. The final door in the hallway was for her room, Poppy entered and found herself in a comfortably decorated bedroom about the size of her apartment. She saw that Tora had laid her messenger bag and purse out on the bed and set her luggage inside the walk in closet. The shutters had been open showing her a sliver of the lake and a wide view of the hillside and the path carved into it to take them down to the water.

“Quincey, what’s that?” She pointed to a sizable building that she hadn’t been able to see from the kitchen area earlier.

“Oh, that’s the guest house. I mainly use it for entertaining. There’s a pool table and a bathroom right inside the door if anyone needs it. Tora likes to stay there in the bedroom in the back.”

“Do you come out here often? I’d never heard you or Tora mention it before this trip?”

“Not as much as I’d like. I only took over ownership of the home a few years ago. I found I needed some space to get away from the city after my novels started taking off. This arm of the lake is usually pretty quiet. The woods are actually part of the Narin National Forest in this section, so there are only a few well spaced out homes in this area.”

  
Poppy grabbed her laptop, “That makes sense. I grew up around here, but never knew there were homes in the forest area. We always had to drive an hour to go around to the more public side of Gar Lake to go play at the open beach area there.”

“Oh how is the beach?” Quincey inquired as they started their walk back to the kitchen to work.

“It’s no grand lake house with spectacular views,” she nodded at him with a snicker, but it’s nice. My dad used to take me a few times a year, and after he passed, I’d come out with my cousins.”

She hesitated unsure how to address the next thing she wanted to say, knowing that Tora would be unhappy if he knew she’d even brought it up. “Uh, Quincey, speaking of family, is yours going to be joining us out here for Christmas? I’d hate to think we were being an imposition.” She sat down at the table, unable to meet his eyes.

He waved away her concerns airily, “Oh, no, Pops, it’s just us. Dad decided to go to Europe with his current female friend to let her act out some kind of ski bunny fantasy.”

Poppy released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. The thought of running into Quincey’s dad, AKA, Tora’s Mafia Boss, had been concerning her ever since she’d agreed to come along. Now relaxed she pulled out her notes and opened her laptop so that she and Quincey could get to work. She’d spent the day before and the train ride getting ahead so that they could have more time to unwind. Poppy was pleased to find out that Quincey had also been working while they were apart and they should be able to easily meet their deadline.

*****

Erdene had Tora bypass the high end Christmas store Quincey had intended for them to visit and go straight to the large home decor warehouse that sat on the edge of Moonbright. Just inside next to the artificial trees was a large selection of Christmas inflatables for the yard. Tora knew that Quincey hated the things, calling them garish and tacky. Poppy would love it. He walked past all of them before deciding which one would be best and pulled a corresponding box to put in the cart. Erdene came up behind him to drop an arm full of multi-colored Christmas lights.

She eyed the box and looked up at him, "Huh, I never pegged you as a big Christmas-y kind of guy. Unless you're getting that with a certain someone in mind?"

"I have no idea what you're talkin' about." He looked her dead in the eye, hoping his hair hid the burning he felt on his ears.

"Hey guys, look! They still had a ton of these. They were all sold out in the city." Jacob called out from behind them.

Tora turned to see Jacob and Megan carrying some hard plastic yard figures that he knew were from those space movies Gyu liked. The little green guy Jacob had was wearing a Santa hat. Megan's guy was wearing a red cape with white trim and his own Santa hat on top of his black helmet.

"We'll pay for these, but I thought we could put them outside near the pool while we're here." Jacob said.

“Oh my God, those are great! Quincey and Poppy are going to flip. Are there any more?” Erdene squealed while Jacob and Megan led her away.

Tora turned back to the cart and snorted a laugh thinking about it, Quincey and Poppy would both flip alright, but in completely different ways. He knew how Quincey liked to do Christmas, but he’d never spent the holiday with Poppy. He couldn’t imagine her Christmas style being the same as the cold ones that he had grown up around with the Balthumans, or the warmer but still formal choices that Quincey liked to surround himself with.

“Hey stranger.”

Tora turned to see a young woman addressing him. He realized she’d probably been checking him out while he was chuckling over the contents of his cart.

“I couldn’t help but notice you over here,” she continued, confidently. “Are you in town for the holidays? Maybe we could get together and spread a little cheer of our own.” She winked. “ What do ya say?”

_Fuuuuuccck_. Every part of his brain screamed at him to walk away, but he knew her type, she’d keep trying until he gave her something to work with. He turned on his false smile, “Sure sw-,” he caught himself, whereas Sweetheart was a name he used to throw around casually now it only meant one person, and the woman standing in front of him wasn’t her. “Sure, how ‘bout ya give me ya phone and I’ll add my number.” That ought to be enough to make her disappear.

She gladly gave it up and he added a number, naming himself Tiger in her contacts. She walked off trying to show off her body to him as she joined a group of women, her friends? at the end of the aisle.

*****

Erdene could not believe what she just saw. Tora was flirting with someone who wasn’t Poppy. And that Bastard was giving her his number. She didn’t care how big and tough he looked, she was going to kill him. She thought back to her first impression of him, how she had told Poppy not to get close to him because he was definitely bad news. Poppy tried so hard to see the good in everyone, which is how she ended up stuck with that cheating ass, Julri for so long. Erdene knew that there were some feelings between Poppy and Tora, but she wasn’t about to let her friend get tangled up with some other guy who was going to crush her self esteem.

She knew that if she went up to him right now, she wouldn’t be able to keep herself from yelling at him. She thought back to Poppy saying he wasn’t what he looked like. Well, here was a chance for her to find out on her own. She threw down the garland she was carrying onto an empty shelf and stalked after the group of women who had walked away.

“Excuse me, Miss?” Erdene tapped the woman on the shoulder. “That man back there, did he give you his number?”

“Uh, why is it any of your business if he did?” the flirting woman snapped back.

“It’s just that he’s my boyfriend,” Erdene lied. “He promised me he would stop sneaking around behind my back.” Her eyes watered, _Holy shit, I'm going to make myself cry, I'm a damn good actress._ “Do-do you mind if I call him from your phone to let him know that i caught him in the act?”

Uncomfortable with the now crying Erdene in front of her, the woman pulled up the contact and handed over the phone.

_Ugh, Tiger._ Erdene thought as she saw what he had listed himself as. She thought about just checking the number, but she’d never actually gotten his contact information to compare it to. She did the only sensible thing and hit **talk**. The line rang twice before she heard the click as the call had been answered.

“Fred and Fran’s Famous Sausages, how can I help ya?” An older man’s voice spoke in her ear.

Erdene quickly hit end and tried to keep her face a mix of sadness and anger as she handed the phone back to the woman. She thanked her and was able to make it to the next aisle before collapsing against the shelves in a silent giggle. _Holy shit, that’s a great fake number to give out_. She was going to remember that the next time some creep started hitting on her at the club.

She went and found her garland, a variety of sparkling neon metallics to horrify Quincey and joined Jacob and Meg who’d now made their way back to Tora and the cart.

“You know, you’re not so bad, Tora.” she nudged him as she walked past to drop her armful with the rest of their decorations. “Let’s go see what ornaments we can find to add to this ridiculous mess.”


	4. Urban Hummingbird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erdene has some words for Tora  
> The group finishes shopping and spends some time decorating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to those of you who were reading. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go MIA on you. I've been having problems focusing enough to write lately; sometimes the weight of the past year gets to me and I've got to take a little break.
> 
> Here's a little longer chapter for you ❤️

Poppy stretched her arms out and over her head and then brought them slowly down her sides, rolling her neck to release some of the tension that had gathered while she hunched over her laptop and papers. She looked over to Quincey who was finishing writing the notes for a change in his character’s outfit. Poppy had found the clothing choices of the female lead to be impractical considering the weather and her usual sensibilities and had convinced him to have her dress accordingly.

“Poppy, I appreciate how much more tactful you are with your critiques. My former beta reader, while helpful, has a bit of a gruff delivery, as you well know.” Quincey complimented her as he finished up writing with a bit of an exaggerated flourish. “Let’s treat ourselves to a small break before we get back to work.” He stood and copied the stretches Poppy had just done. “Let’s go for a little walk around the front. I just finished having it landscaped last month.”

He led her into another portion of the house she hadn’t seen yet. Pointing out the sitting room, another entrance to his office, his room, and the stairs leading to the other bedrooms. They went out the front door and walked down a flagstone path that circled the house. Walking towards the drive Quincey pointed out the various box hedges broken up by an occasional flowering hydrangea for color and end capped with a Japanese maple that bordered the house. There were some bright lantanas on the opposite side of the path making the spaces pop with color. Beyond the landscaped path was a large grassy area that gradually terminated into the trees of the forest that surrounded the house.

Quincey pointed to the bright flowers that ran along the path, “The lantanas are from the previous owners. They were spread out everywhere, I cut them back but I couldn’t bear to remove them completely. The landscapers told me they were great for all the local pollinators.”

As if on cue, Poppy watched as a hummingbird appeared and flitted it’s way through the flowers. While it hovered near the colorful blooms she pulled out her phone to capture it’s picture.

Quincey continued to escort her around the exterior of the house, taking her through the gate to the back, showing her the large patio that had an outdoor kitchen and lounge with a large sectional arranged around a firepit, the pool and spa and the guest house. He had kept the landscaping around the higher windows similar to the front of the house. Quincey pointed out the trail that would take them down to the dock, boat house and lake that ran past the guesthouse, down the hill.

Poppy took it all in feeling the stress of the morning releasing from her body. She was in a beautiful home with panoramic views, surrounded by her work friends who had become more like family, and then there was Tora. She felt her cheeks heat as she thought about their car ride that morning. They hadn’t even made it to the house before he was trying to kiss her. She was grateful to her grumbling tummy for the interruption; she was finding her excuses to keep herself from becoming too attached to not be that important anymore.

“Poppy? Did you hear me? I think we should go back in now.” Quincey pulled her attention back from her morning car ride. “I need to run to the bathroom before we sit back down,” he opened the door that deposited them back into the main room. “Back in five. Make yourself comfortable.”

Poppy began to sort through the notes she’d made for the next section, relieved at how much more efficient they were without the distraction of a sweltering office. She smiled inwardly thinking about asking Quincey if she could just work remotely from his guest bedroom until the summer was over. Unable to bring herself to start on her work just yet, she pulled her phone back out to look at the shots she’d taken of the hummingbird. Smiling to herself, she fired off a quick text as she heard Quincey returning.

*****

Erdene was acting strange. Tora wasn’t sure what happened, but he didn’t like it. Their relationship wasn’t exactly close. She had hated him at first, he knew Poppy must’ve convinced her that he wasn’t so bad because Erdene had begrudgingly accepted him into the office. Then there was her thing with Pinky; he knew the two of them still hooked up occasionally. Tora wondered if Erdene knew that after every booty call, Pinky would have a training day. Maybe he thought it was just a coincidence, not Tora’s small act of vengeance for having to live with blue balls while his men were able to live with more freedoms than he was afforded, like casual relationships.

His phone dinged.

 **Bobby:** Look, you don't see this in the city.

He clicked on the attachment to see a short clip of a hummingbird flitting around one of the flowered bushes he recognized from the front of Quincey's house.

He took a video clip of his own and sent it back to her, smirking at his own joke.

She responded back immediately.

 **Bobby:** Ha ha, very funny. Pick out an ornament that you think I’d like.

An ornament? She must’ve noticed them in the background of the movie he sent. He had been watching Erdene run back and forth down the aisle trying to pick ones sold individually that she thought might cause Quincey to experience heart palpitations. She kept bringing them over to show him like they were suddenly best friends, laughing and asking his opinion on each one. He was uncomfortable with her acting so chummy. Did she want something from him? She was currently standing in front of a large selection of ornaments shaped like emojis giggling to herself as she tried to find the one that would cause Quincey the most distress.

Scanning the aisle for something that made him think of Poppy, his eyes landed on Jacob and Megan. Those two nerds had been geeking out the whole time they’d been in the store. Tora had only met Megan the day before when she had arrived with Jacob and Erdene, but he liked her already. She was into a bunch of nerdy shit like Bobby. Introverted but quick-witted, she was a good match for Jacob who didn’t always speak without putting his foot in his mouth. Tora guessed that she had been warned about him beforehand, because she neither seemed surprised or scared of him when he went to pick them up from the station.

Tora watched as they picked up different ornaments and decorations and laughed, knowing what the reaction of the other would be or sharing something that was part of some kind of inside joke. Since his childhood he’d always felt like things like that were off limits for him, like some secret club where he’d never learn the handshake, but now, now he had Poppy in his life. They had their own secret handshake, he smirked thinking about how red she still got when he’d tap his lips like he was asking for a smoke. He’d never be able to be as carefree with her out shopping like her friends. His smirk faded, was she okay with all the concessions they had to take?

“Quick, laugh at this,” Erdene commanded, shoving a weird looking elf in front of him.

“What tha Hell?” He startled.

“Just laugh.” She hissed through gritted teeth, her mouth stretched into an exaggerated smile, “hahahaha, oh, Babe, you’re too funny!” She slapped his arm playfully.

What, babe? Tora looked at Erdene losing it in front of him and watched as her eyes signaled there was something wrong behind him. _Shit. Fuck_! Was he in some other clan’s territory? He thought this area was clear of all that. Unconsciously he reached his hand around his back, feeling for the gun that he’d left back at the house. Cautiously, he turned his body as nonchalantly as possible to get an eye on the threat.

He locked eyes with the flirtatious woman from before. She was watching him and Erdene as she passed by with her friends. He felt Erdene reach for him, and on impulse he wrapped his arm around her, pressing her into his side. He looked at the elf Erdene was still holding near his face and tried to let out a natural sounding chuckle. “Ya wanna tell me what the hell this is all about?” He asked in a low voice only she could hear.

“I’ll tell you in a minute, once they’ve left.” She said in a loud whisper. She kept their fake conversation going in her normal voice, with him filling in the gaps, all those years of clan training and thinking on his feet made his acting come across naturally, but it felt wrong to have her squeezed up next to him instead of Bobby.

Once they were sure the group was gone Erdene shifted away from his side, elbowing him lightly. “Sorry about that big guy. I saw her hitting on you earlier. I kinda followed her and told her you were my man. I called the number you gave her. That’s genius.” She smiled up at him. “You know the number to a good taco shop I can give out to creeps that hit on me?”

He chuffed at her joke. But there was a bigger problem, “What’s it matter to ya who’s hittin’ on me?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “It matters because I care about Poppy. I don’t know what’s going on between you and Poppy, or if there is even anything going on between the two of you, but I do see the way you two have been making eyes at each other in the office the past few weeks, and when you were there before. She believes that you’re a good guy. I had to do it to protect my friend because there was no way I was going to let another cheating douchebag destroy her self esteem again and break her heart.” She poked him. “When I saw you give her your number I was this close to castrating you right there in front of Santa’s workshop.” She held up two fingers with an almost imperceptible space between them. “Now come on, we need to finish this and pick up a tree and you haven’t picked out hardly anything. This is your Christmas too, go on and get some ornaments.”

Tora stopped her as she began to walk off to put the elf back. “About Poppylan, I wouldn’t-” he stopped himself. He couldn’t promise that she wouldn’t get hurt. That was the whole reason he had tried to stay away from her in the beginning. He tried to think of a way to explain that he would do his best to protect her with all his power. Some look must have crossed his face that gave away his feelings because the scrutinizing look that Erdene had softened.

She looked away, grabbing a set of ornaments off the shelf, granting him the small mercy of changing the subject. “What do you think of these?”

******

Poppy woke up to the sound of raised voices. Quincey had caught her yawning too many times, a byproduct of her late night packing and working and her early morning train ride, and sent her for a nap until everyone returned to decorate the tree. Taking a few moments to orientate herself to her surroundings and the voices, Poppy recognized one standing out loudly against all the others.

“What have you done to my _vision_?” Quincey’s voice carried down the hall. “This is nothing like I wanted. Tora, is this your doing?”

She couldn’t make out the muffled responses from the others and quickly shook off the last of the sleepiness to make her way into the main room.

“Erdene, _et tu?_ You are an artist. You were supposed to help me realize my Christmas elegance. This” he shook a glass poop emoji ornament, “this is not elegance.” Quincey collapsed onto the sofa, burying his face in his hands.

“Quincey, it’s not so bad. We all had fun picking things out, and isn’t that what really matters?” Erdene coaxed.

Quincey gave her a withering look.

“Anyway,” she continued on, ignoring him, “It looks like we’re all here. Hey Pops, did you have a nice rest?” She waved at her from across the room. “Come look at what we bought. Can you believe they had this in the double discount bin?” Erdene held up a tree skirt decorated with dogs from some children’s show.

“I most certainly can.” Quincey deadpanned sinking lower into the sofa cushions.

“I wandered the store looking for inspiration for the tree topper. You couldn’t have just any mass produced angel or star. This was giving me some real Georgia O’Keeffe vibes,” she pulled a plastic horned cow skull replica out of her bag. “And look,” she held out a small pack of battery operated L.E.D. twinkle lights, “we can wrap these around the horns and put them in the eyes to make it festive.”

Quincey looked as if he might faint.

Poppy came around and sat next to him, rubbing his arm in comfort. “Just think Quincey, this will be a happy Christmas all of us will remember, and you facilitated it.” She caught Tora watching her from across the room. “This is a special gift you’ve given to all of us.”

Quincey turned towards her, “I have provided something pretty special, haven’t I.” He looked over at Erdene, Jacob and Megan wrapping colored lights and garland around the tree and sighed. “Okay, we can have the ugly tree, but I’m not making dinner tonight, and the four of you can’t try to get Poppy to help you either.” He directed his narrowed eyes at Erdene and then Tora for good measure.

Ornaments from their trip began to get pulled out of bags, Jacob and Megan’s all looked as if they revolved around hero movies and sports. Poppy found herself giggling at a buff Santa playing rugby that Meg passed along to show her. Erdene’s collection was a grab bag of whatever caught her attention as she passed. She had found some miniature ugly Christmas sweaters, some unintentionally frightening Santas that had the paint off-center and a collection of rude emojis.

“Here Quincey, take this as a peace offering.” Erdene held out a small bag that was full of black, bronze and bronze with black leopard print glass ornaments. “I have another bag in my room with more of this, once we leave you can reclaim your tree.”

Poppy watched as Quincey colored and then rose to envelope Erdene in a hug, thanking her for saving his Christmas, happily sobbing against her shoulder. She could see Tora rolling his eyes at his friend’s dramatics. Suppressing a smile, she walked over to him to see what ornaments he had selected, and more importantly, to satisfy her curiosity over what he had picked out for her.

“So,” she said as she approached, “wanna show me what you’ve got?” She caught the smirk on his face as the realization of what she’d said settled on her. “Wait! Don’t say anything. You know that’s not what I meant you perv.” She could feel her face heating as his smirk bloomed into a full smile showcasing his dimples.

“Okay Bobby, since ya asked, I’ll whip it out.” He reached into the bag and pulled out a glass smiling cactus ornament. Leaning close so only she could hear him, he said in a low voice, “This one’s ribbed, ya know what they say about that.” Pfft pfft.

Fighting the urge to cover her increasingly reddening face, she maintained eye contact with him, trying to ignore the innuendo and the hypnotizing dimples that were on full display. “It’s a little smaller than I expected. Is that all you’ve got for me?”

“Damn Bobby, I didn’t think ya’d be the type to care ‘bout that. Is this better for ya?” He showed her a replica Christmas coffee cup ornament. “It’s definitely bigger than ya cactus, got more girth too.” He handed it off with a wink.

Poppy felt the conversation behind her between Quincey and Erdene quiet, could feel them staring at her back, which was probably as bright red as her face right now if the heat that she swore she felt in her shoulders meant anything. Not only was there the threat of being eavesdropped upon, but she didn’t have a retort for Tora, who was standing in front of her looking at her in a way that was causing her to feel heat in other, more intimate places. “That looks like it will do nicely,” she said, taking the cup from him to go hang it on the tree. She did her best to ignore the falter in his smile when he realized the game was over, and the looks that Erdene shot Quincey and Meg seeing her red face.

The six of them crowded around the tree to decorate, Poppy had to be mindful not to get in anyone else’s way under such tight quarters, even so, she found herself being bumped or bumping into Tora frequently. If he wasn’t bumping her, he would reach to hang a decoration near her, making his arm brush against her, while keeping an infuriatingly straight face to her blushes. Except of course, when he’d point out that the bottom was looking too bare and have her hang something since she was the one closest to the ground. They all took turns pointing out the different ornaments they’d found as they were placing them, with the exception of Quincey, who’d claimed a section of the tree as a “No Fun Zone” where only his preferred choices would be displayed. As more of the ornaments from Tora’s bag were revealed, Poppy noticed they were all things she would have picked out, more cacti, cupcakes and doughnuts,and a strawberry. At one point he handed her a tiger and said they were all out of hamsters. The only thing that struck her as uniquely Tora’s taste was a small set of three coordinating dinosaur ornaments painted in simple solid colors that were at the bottom of the bag. She could tell by the way that his eyes focused in on it, that the green Tyrannosaurus Rex was his favorite. When he saw that she was empty handed, he gave her the prized T-Rex to hang, finding spots for the other two on his own.

The final step was a pouting Quincey placing the lit up cow skull on the tree top. Erdene plugged in the lights and their Christmas tree was finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tora's text to Poppy:  
> "I see one right now"  
> with a short video of Erdene running back and forth with him zoomed in on her colorful hair.
> 
> The lantanas are a nod to my grandmother's house, she loves to have bright flowers along her path. I haven't been able to visit her in over a year and I miss the old broad.
> 
> Kinda personal announcement: yesterday was my husband's birthday, I know some of you read a patreon wishing me a happy birthday that he had arranged. In case anyone was wondering, he has been in remission for a few months and is healthy now, just counting down the clock until we say officially cancer free. Glad to have another milestone away from the past year.


End file.
